fiscal cliff, beyond the fiscal cliff. let me get to this steve. this is about including the debt ceiling. and what the president said about that in this negotiation today. >> we are not going to play that game next year. >> if congress in any way suggests they will tie negotiation to debt ceiling votes and take us to the brink of default once again, part of a budget negotiation, which by the way we have never done in our history until we did it last year. i will not play that game. because we have to break that habit before it starts. >> bret: what about that? >> well, the president had as many red lines for iran as for house republicans. i think what kirsten said is absolutely remarkable. it is about the scalp. it's about the president having made a campaign argument for the better part of 2012. so that he could run a class warfare campaign. now having to make good on that with the base of his party. the u.s. economy be damned. the republicans offered to give so much and offering precisely what erskine bowles laid out as a compromise position in